The News of Elnaz Babazdadeh’s Murder by Basijis – Rumor or Reality?

Translator’s Note: Since I published this translation additional information has been posted on the original Farsi blog in which the identity of the house keeper and other issues regarding the murder of Elnaz have been questioned. I therefore ask that you please refrain from further routing this translation until further information has been provided by either HRANA or other HR organizations reporting on Iran. There are too many unanswered questions at this time.Thank you. Negar

Monday 12th June, 2010 By: Mojtaba Saminejad

Yesterday HRANA published an article entitled “A Young Girl Murdered in Tabriz, After Being Raped by Basiji Forces”. The manner in which this news was published and the use of statements that people are obviously sensitive to such as a Basiji saying that they were only implementing the will of God or bringing up the issue of rape are frequently seen on the aforementioned website and other similar sites such as Iran News Agency (affiliated with the MKO). I was suspicious of the news from the moment it was published. I also noticed that those who had published the news were very anxious to get the word out and were busy posting the news on Balatarin under a variety of domain names.

Even though this news was rather suspicious, it nevertheless slowly began to get published all over Facebook and other outlets. After a while, a “complementary” version, in effect the same as the original version of the news was also published by many sites.

We decided to further investigate this matter and found a Facebook link for Ms. Babazdadeh and with the help of friends were able to get a hold of the Babazdadeh’s home phone number. This morning a friend contacted their home and spoke to a women who explained in tears that Ms. Elnaz Babazdadeh was killed by a robber and that the published news was completely false.

After this initial phone conversation, I contacted the house myself in order to verify the information and further investigate. A women answered the phone. She sounded very sad. She introduced herself as the house keeper. She stated that as a result of the loss of their daughter and their sorrow, the Babazdadeh family had left the house and gone else where. She added that staying at the house had become unbearable for them.

I once again asked about the alleged murder of Elnaz and she responded that it was an armed robber and the reports that it was a “Basiji”, that she was “killed as a result of not adhering to Hejab rules” and her being “assaulted by the son of a Pasdar” were all untrue.

Unfortunately in the middle of our conversation we lost connection and although I tried to call her back my attempts were unsuccessful. I shall nevertheless continue to try and reestablish connection.

This story is very similar to the one published about Taraneh Mousavi. It is growing rapidly despite the fact that there are no reliable sources. Those who have published the news as is customary these days, do not provide any explanations as to how they verified the news. We have had plenty of rumors and news of this nature over the past months. Our society has a tendency to get very excited about this type of news. All it takes is for someone to publish the news that a Basiji has done something and there is a wide audience. We can point to at least 50 sites that have copied and pasted this news to date, without having any inclination as to whether it is accurate or any attempt by their part to verify the news. All they do is copy and past. That’s it.

The story became even more interesting when according to some friends heavenly messages began to appear on some Facebook walls claiming that Elnaz Babazdadeh had requested that her story not be told!

Even more interesting is the fact that the same Facebook wall claimed that the Elnaz’s family have requested that no news be published, however, when we contacted the house the only person who was available and introduced herself as the house keeper, was not willing to provide us with a phone number to contact the family and only confirmed that the family had left the house and have no desire to talk about this matter.

Regardless of this fact we still face the news being published on a variety of Facebook walls. The only thing was can know for certain right now is that based on my phone contact with the individual at their home, much of what has been reported is exaggerated and false. If anything changes and I am able to establish contact with the family, I will inform you of further developments accordingly.

My thanks to Ali Abadi for his continued investigation into this matter.